By systematically targeting electroconvulsive therapy as part of its war on psychiatry, experts say Scientology could decimate a treatment that is “saving so many lives.”
…
The Atlantic’s 2001 article explained that ECT [Electroconvulsive therapy] had emerged from a terrifying past to become a safe and effective treatment for some of the worst effects of serious mental illnesses. But Scientology, through its campaigns and by pushing legislation, was promoting outdated myths about the procedure for a public that knew little about it.
Miscavige’s November 3 speech illustrated that Scientology is still pushing this agenda more than 20 years later—but with one big difference.
While Scientology has continued to campaign against ECT on various fronts, it has pursued a little known but very effective strategy against ECT’s most vulnerable spot: Namely, the two small companies that manufacture the devices that physicians use during the procedure.
For decades, Scientology has quietly waged a litigation war against those two companies, SigmaStim and Somatics, and it has both nearly on the ropes.
Scientology knows that if the two companies go out of business, federal regulations mandate that doctors will no longer be able to use their devices, and ECT will become unavailable in this country and around the world.
Those medical providers say that ECT is a safe procedure that is saving lives every day, and they are extremely concerned that it is nearly on the brink of disappearing—and only because of the relentless attacks of Scientology on the device manufacturers, a war that has flown completely under the radar until now.
Not sure what to think about this. I hate Scientology, but I’m pretty iffy on ECT. My grandma had those treatments for years and it seemed to treat her anxiety by destroying her memory. I looked it up and treating anxiety with it is “controversial.”
That doesn’t make me an expert in it and maybe there are folks it does wonderful things for, but at least in her case they probably should’ve just loaded her up with Xanax. Not that that is a wonderful option either, but that was really all she wanted and I think she put up with the ECT to try to convince them she needed it.
So Scientology can get bent but I’ll allow for the possibility that maybe the stopped clock could be right here. Or maybe you folks have all seen it work much better than I have.
Edit: I should make clear - science should be challenged by researchers, not Scientologists. That’s how science works - withstand falsification. If this causes any non-idiots to look at the data and reaffirm the treatment, I’m for that. As stated, Scientology itself can get fucked and die in a fire.
The problem is that this would remove ECT even as a desperate final option for treatment.
Unless you have a medical license or a PhD what you typed holds absolutely zero weight. It’s the equivalent of saying all surgery is bad because a surgeon left a sponge inside my grandma
It’s anecdotal. There are mountains of data and studies now. Still amazes me that people still argue “Oh, well X is bad because I know 1 person who had a bad experience”
I’m definitely not saying it’s bad. There are tons of possible reasons to explain my experience besides ECT bad.
“I’m pretty iffy on ECT”
“Doctors should’ve loaded her up with pills instead of ECT in her case”
Sounds like you don’t see the merits in ECT, which is perfectly fine. I just disagree with your methods of reasoning used to support this conclusion.
I think I was petty clear it’s an anecdote. There’s not very much to discuss here other than us nodding our heads in agreement that Scientology is bad. This is a discussion board. I discussed.
We’re on Lemmy, not a scientific publication… Nothing typed on here holds any weight
ECT is not a treatment for anxiety, unfortunately. I’ve seen it work wonders for severe depression, mania, and catatonia, but never for anxiety.
Sometimes I’ve seen ECT being used as a “last resort” treatment for people with issues that can only be treated with psychotherapy, like PTSD or borderline personality disorder, but who have been unwilling or unable to do the work over the course of years and the doctors are lost on where to go next. In these cases ECT is almost universally a failure and the side effects are not worth it.
For someone in a manic episode or who’s experiencing catatonia, some memory loss is a small trade to have your life back.
It is, or at least was, a controversial treatment for anxiety. And my grandma was drug seeking. She just wanted to be bombed out of her mind on Xanax, so I can even see looking for other treatment options out of desperation because nothing worked the way she wanted and they wouldn’t give her enough Xanax.
I get it. It was just hard to watch her after her treatments. At first the memories came back, but eventually they didn’t.
But that’s just my experience. I’m not going to argue with medical science because even if future science shows mistakes were made, it’s not like I have the knowledge or experience to do better. But science grows by being challenged and proving itself or being proven wrong. I’m okay with it being challenged by actual professionals - not by Scientologists.
Lots of medical treatments are improperly applied due to a physician’s poor clinical judgment, and it sounds like that’s what happened in this case. Sorry this happened to your grandma
Tbh honest mate the most likely thing is that’s a coincidence.
It’s used all the time for people who can’t take drugs i.e. pregnant people. And has been shown to be very safe.
There are possible side effects though, like any medical treatment, so the potential risks do need to be weighed against the potential benefits, again like any medical treatment. I’ve seen ECT work wonders for certain conditions though
100%. I am self-aware here. I’m not a professional, I just was in frequent contact with her during that part of her life. She was in one of those independent living places after my grandfather died, but still had her wits. This wasn’t end of life care. We could carry on long conversations about all kinds of things, past and present. If you’re implying it was dementia or Alzheimer’s, she never was diagnosed with either and lived another 15 years or so.
I know, anecdotes aren’t data. I trust the medical profession as a whole. But there have been a lot of reproducibility issues with studies that have come out, particularly in the area of mental health. And between that and my experience I’m okay with taking another look at the data. But if researchers and clinicians are satisfied, I won’t gainsay that.